Heart Attack
SasaengTwo: Heart Attack
Alex's room was dark and silent except for the phone that lit inside her pocket, silently humming and vibrating to the beat of Hatsune Miku’s Levan Polkka. She had just finished listening to the whole album and now silence and solitude enveloped her as she stared at the unlit laptop screen, reflecting on what just happened.
Over an hour ago, after the elevator doors slide open she walked in a daze. They didn’t even say goodbye to each other. She was pretty sure it happened. She got trapped in an elevator with a beautiful stranger. But the bright lights that blinked too fast and the almost deafening sounds of cameras made it seem like she has just been woken up from a dream. It could have been, she dozed off in the elevator after all. She snapped out of the trance when out of nowhere, she heard music blasting in her ears, literally making her jump in surprise. She looked around to see where it was coming from when she realized that she actually had her headphones on. Quickly, she looked at the offensive device on her hand. She didn’t remember putting anything on it that day. There were days like that, when she brings her walkman with her and not listen to anything. Like instinct, she knew it was the album CD inside it. What just happened was real, she thought. Of course, it was Jongin who put it there on purpose. And so she looked at her other hand which was holding the album, she opened it and then found it empty as expected. Mindlessly, she turned the first page, and her eyes widen as she gazed at the man on the paper who was staring back at her. Her heart didn’t stop. In fact, it paced a little quicker than usual as she stopped breathing in air.
“D-Did… did I just,” holy fart. “Just a while ago… was that,” holiest fart. She gestured the photo book closer to her face to make sure. It’s him. It’s him it’s him it’s him. She inhaled sharply, and exhaled the air slowly with pursed lips, the way her doctor instructed her to do. She looked at the photo again, taking time to process the information now with less shock. This doesn’t make sense, she thought, but her unconscious mind says the opposite. It explained everything. It made perfect sense.
"Jongin!" the members of EXO-K said in unison except for Sehun who was playing the rubix cube Luhan lent him.
“Waaahhh,” Chanyeol cooed. “Manager-nim said you were trapped in an elevator,” he said, “…so cool.”
Jongin nodded, unsurprised that the immature giant find the whole thing amusing. “Everything’s fine. Manager-nim took care of it.”
“I also wanted to come, Jongin,” Suho, ever caring leader, said. “But hyung didn’t allow any of us to leave, especially with the photographers outside.”
“Was it a girl?” asked doe-eyed Kyungsoo. The man was almost as concerned as Suho for the rest of the members.
“Yah punk, where’s the jacket?” Baekhyun asked, to which Jongin didn’t answer. “She took it, didn’t she? She made you— oh mohh…”
“It’s not like that,” Jongin replied. It occurred to him that none of the members have seen the multimedia message at all. Now that he thought of it, of course they won’t, it wasn’t their habit to look at each other’s phones or inbox. He walked over to Sehun, who didn’t even give him the slightest glance and was bent on solving the cube on his hands.
“Where’s my phone, Sehun?” Jongin asked, nudging the guy on the feet with his foot. The guy tilted his head to the side as he also twisted a part of the cube.
“Chanyeol,” he replied, still not looking up.
Jongin quickly went over to Chanyeol who was now handing him the cellphone. He took it and then turned his attention to their leader. “I’m fine, Suho-hyung. It might go a little crazy with the press for a while, but I don’t think anything is harmful.”
“Was it a girl?” Kyungsoo asked again, “…because if it is, of course it’ll go a little crazy with press.”
Jongin nodded. “It’s going to be okay, don’t think too much about it, hyung.” He faked a yawn to everyone and headed to his room quickly. He flopped onto his bed, and then swiped the phone screen open.
Alex wasted another hour spacing out in her room. Her cellphone has stopped ringing, except for the text message notification sound it makes from time to time. She was now lying flat on her bed after she decided against turning his laptop on to look Kim Jongin up on the internet. This was pretty crazy, to be honest, she thought. If she indulge in it and find more and more about him, she might go pretty crazy herself. It wasn’t too late— she still hadn’t turned another page of that photo book. She mentally gave her self a round of applause for not knowing the other members yet. She remembered how her entire school was crazy over them. They won’t stop talking about them. And it’s not like they won’t. It’s more of like they can’t. She didn’t know much about them except that they were addictive.
“But, Kim Jongin…” She turned to her side, seeking for comfort, as she tried to recall the man’s beautiful face. “I wonder what he does in the group… does he sing? …dance? Tch. That guy is too hot to be talented. Like c’mon, he couldn’t have it all, right? He needs to have a flaw or something…Kim. Jong. In.” She sighed. The only member she saw, in person and in paper. “The same man I got trapped in an elevator with… got to have conversations with… ate chicken burger with… I even got to lay my head on his lap…” She clamped shut, although everything was spoken in her mind. She felt her cheeks heat and her stomach cramp like she wanted to squeal or— “…eughhh no. Control yourself, woman!” She turned to the other side again. “I bet if the entire school knew, I’d be assassinated in a week, in the restroom perhaps, like in those movies.” She clicked her tongue at the thought. “No, that’s too harsh. Maybe, uhh… I’d get a club of haters. Heol, that’s too much, they’d never— but of course, they could. It was unfair. I’m not even a fan and—” She clamped shut again, remembering the awful things she said about EXO in front of Jongin. “Stupidstupidstupid,” she now said this aloud, hitting her forehead with the heel of her palm. “…and the album was really really good, how could I— tshhhh stupid.” She was so embarrassed, remembering the things she said like I bet they couldn’t even sing, only relying on their looks. Her thoughts were again interrupted by her phone’s text message notification tone. She looked at it and suddenly remembered about the selca she took with Jongin. Quickly she reached for it and swiped the screen open. Her eyes widen at the glowing 68 MISSED CALLS, 33 MESSAGES RECEIVED staring angrily at her. She scrolled through them and it was all from Shane and Karen. She sighed, sure that her friends already found out. She opened her inbox and scrolled through the latest messages, skipping directly to the earlier ones.
Shane (6:01 PM) — rumors going around about kai trapped in elevator u were kidn ryt?
Shane (6:12 PM) — where r u rn lex
Shane (6:14 PM) — where r u rn lex
Shane (6:18 PM) — wdsds;;knlhjvdcglbj UBIch its confrmed
Shane (6:19 PM) — im sorry pls tell me it wasnt u
Shane (6:22 PM) — ANS UR PHoNE dmeit ;_; alex it wasnt u rigyt?
Shane (6:23 PM) — im calling karen prepare urslef
Karen (6:25 PM) — WAT iS DIS AbOUT answer ur phone alexxxxxxxxxxxxxx I will kill u
Shane (6:25 PM) — it was u wasnt it
Karen (6:26 PM) — r u still in the elevcator?????????????????????????????
Shane (6:26 PM) — im crying
Shane (6:26 PM) — no sht im crying on the telephone with karen
Karen (6:28 PM) — listen lex can u put him on the phone u dun getit this could be our only chance ;__;
Alex scrolled past the next messages, which was all from Karen. She was absolutely sure the messages were long and sentimental, knowing that her friend was the most emotional of them three. She felt sorry, really really sorry, to be honest. If she knew the elevator would malfunction, she would’ve brought her friends together with her inside it. After scrolling through the messages from Karen, she opened the one from Shane.
Shane (6:43 PM) — ITsbhosabhjdaboWAS YOU IT WAS IN UR CONDO HOTEL U LItTLE sHT ure so dead dont show urself to me
Karen (6:44 PM) — :)
Karen (6:44 PM) — thank you for everything alex thank you for the sunshine joy you brought to my life I will always remember the blossoming friendship we both shared over the years since preschool when we both still had runny nose you know I love u and shane right
Karen (6:45) — fk u I forgive u
Shane (6:45) — karens an emotional mess answer ur phone WE nEED TO TALK
Alex couldn’t take it anymore and put the phone away. She buried her face on the pillows, feeling remorseful. She didn’t mean to be selfish. She didn’t even know who Kai was. But still, she could’ve at least checked her phone from time to time. But she failed to give attention, and after the incident, she was occupied on listening to the songs in the album. Karen was right, that could’ve been their only chance. And she blew it.
"Who's that?!" Chanyeol peered behind Jongin, scaring the crap out of the guy who was staring at the same photo again and again for almost an hour now, like checking it from time to time for any changes. “Hey!” Chanyeol widened his eyes at Jongin, who was now standing at the farthest corner of the room. “That was a girl!” he exclaimed, pointing a finger at Jongin.
“Do you always have to creep?” asked Jongin defensively, shuddering.
Chanyeol clicked his tongue in disapproval and blinked his eyes condescendingly at Jongin. “We can’t have girlfriends yet, Jongin. We only just debuted. I know you’ve been lonely during training, only having Taemin and the other guys, but you need to have to resist girls. Especially now that most of our fans is composed of them.”
Jongin sighed, almost disgusted at the Chanyeol’s attempt to be a well-behaved man. It didn’t suit him at all. The guy was an idiot. “She isn’t my girlfriend, okay. She’s the one in the elevator.”
“Aha…” Chanyeol nodded with a sudden look of comprehension, which is just the same creepy look, actually. “Ah— can I take a look?”
“No,” Jongin said, stern. “Go to sleep, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol sneered at him. “Tch, this guy, really— yah! You think you’re so cool being trapped in an elevator?” Chanyeol changed tack. “Let… me… see,” he commanded in a low voice, beckoning the younger to follow his orders.
“Go to sleep.”
Chanyeol made a face and stomped his foot, which looked disgusting to Jongin since the guy was a giant. Not cute at all. “I got it, I got it,” the man grumbled, flopping onto the bed and arranging his pillows.
Spacing out for too long made her forget about dinner. It was past eleven in the evening when she decided to cook for herself. She was diligently stirring meatballs with sauce, which was canned actually, in the pan, while at same time eyeing another pot of boiling water containing a strainer with pasta. The once silent place was now filled with volume down music, EXO’s album on replay. She rocked her head to the beat of what she thinks is Heart Attack’s intro, or maybe it was Baby, as she turned to her boiling pot of pasta, taking the strainer out, not wanting the pasta to be soggy. She put it in a bowl, and then waited for her meatballs with sauce to heat enough, tapping her fingers to the song’s— Heart Attack— chorus.
Chanyeol pulled his pajama pants after draining his pee into the urinal unto its last drop. He was washing his hands, still groggy from sleep, when his eyes, which were half-closed, widened in alarm after hearing a door creaking and click shut. He shuddered both at the cold water running through his hands and at the creepy silence enveloping him. He inhaled sharply before opening the restroom door, and then he slid through it, running quickly to his room. He hurriedly pulled the blankets up to his chest and called Jongin on the other bed. “Jhong heen…” he whispered, his gaze at the door, mentally preparing himself for anything that might come out of it. He didn’t get a reply, so he tried once more. “Jhong hee— eh?” He stopped short when he found the bed empty. “Aishhh, it was just the idiot,” he muttered, throwing the blankets off of him.
Alex frowned at the bowl of spaghetti in front of her. She wanted to eat a real meal, with beef or steak or rice, but the hotel’s chefs had probably already gone home. “This would have to do,” she said, picking up her chopsticks. Then something probably close to a miracle happened. Her phone, which has already been dead silent for an hour, as if it was sulking, rang. It was Shane. Of course. After about five seconds of hesitation, she picked it up.
“Hello?” she said.
“Alex! Finally…” Shane said in relief, but only for a second. “Hey! Why are you ignoring my calls? And Karen’s? We’re going crazy, like, how could you not call us immediately after what happ—”
“Shane,” Alex cut her off, lazily stabbing the bowl of spaghetti with chopsticks. “I’m sorry, okay. I understand how you both felt, and I’m sorry. But you have yet to know my part, and what happened. I was… shocked. And just— I’m sorry.”
Shane didn’t reply for a long time and Alex began to tackle the spaghetti. “Forgiven,” Shane sighed on the other line. “Okay, can I come over? You don’t understand. I can’t sleep. I need to talk to you about it, you have to understand that this isn’t simple… just, okay, one can’t simply sleep after their friend just got—”
“Shane, Shane,” Alex called again, trying to calm her friend down. “Sure, you can come over. Just be careful—”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Don’t drive too fast!” Alex immediately said after hinting the rush of excitement from Shane.
“Okay yeah yeah yeah,” Shane exclaimed.
“Wait, you’re already in your car?” Alex asked in disbelief after hearing Shane’s car growl on the other line. Shane didn’t reply. “Shane,” she called again, rolling her eyes.
“Yes? What?” her friend piped up.
“Go back to your house—”
“What? Nooo.”
“—and bring me beef, or anything really good. Just… food, okay?”
“Ooh kke!” Shane replied, and Alex could just imagine her friend doing the OK sign with the hand.
About ten minutes later, the door bell rang. Alex immediately stood up from looking at the teapot since she was boiling water to make tea for her and Shane. She didn’t touch her spaghetti as soon as Shane told her she’d bring her beef and she was starving. She excitedly headed to the door, her mind swirling at the beef waiting for her, and yanked the handle open. But after a good three seconds revealing who was outside, she shut the door close again in panic.
“Jongin?... No,” she whispered. She gulped and peeked through the door’s peephole to verify, and clamped to stop herself from screaming or making any sound. It’s really him. Whattodowhattodo? She gave her head a forceful shake, as if to wave the feelings, whatever it was eughh, off. So what? He’s here. Why? Then, well, I’m about to find out. She cleared before opening the door again.
“Jongin,” she squeaked, voice in high tone. What was that about, larynx? “Wateryoudoinhere?”
Jongin raised his eyebrows at the question. Right, what was he doing here? He didn’t know. He went to the ground floor, hoping he might find someone to ask about which floor was she staying at and it took him a long time before finally believing that she might actually be the building’s owner. So he asked some staff who was still around as to which floor she, referring her as the building’s owner, was staying. And when he also found out that she was living alone at the moment, he found himself pushing the button twenty three of the elevator. “N-nothing,” Jongin said. “I was worried about a schoolgirl in-involving in ion so I…”
“…came here to check if I was really telling the truth?”
Jongin looked at anything but Alex and nodded, embarrassed. Whether his excuse worked or not, he really wasn’t sure. He wanted to see her just because.
“Idiot, do I look like a prosti—”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Jongin said defensively, worried he might hurt her feelings. “I was just… worried.”
“I got it I got it,” Alex replied chuckling, enjoying how Jongin panics. She remembered him making the same face when he was telling her not to kick the elevator doors. “Uh, um… come in,” she added, feeling awkward. “Let me show you my p-palace,” she said, gesturing the whole place to him in one hand. Joke is not working, Alex. “A proof that I don’t involve in prosti—”
“Don’t say it,” Jongin said, now stepping in. “It doesn’t sound good and I feel horrible for saying it to you.”
Alex bit her upper lip in substitution for oops. “Okay.”
Jongin looked around, the place was neat and clean. So it was true that high school girls keep their rooms tidied up all the time, he thought. He finally noticed the music playing, and he looked at the speakers before turning his attention back to her. “Is it any good?”
“What?” Is he seriously asking me about the album? That’s like shoving the fact to my face that he’s a member of EXO and I didn’t know it until hours ago and I talked trash about it and now he wants me to admit I liked it. Well, yes, okay, I liked it very much. But—
“The album, is it any good?” Jongin asked again, his smug face on.
“Oh that?” Alex laughed nervously. “Y-yeah, Yeah... I like it.”
Jongin smiled and nodded in approval. “I’m glad you liked it, I was worried you won’t,” he said. “I’d want to talk about it with you, like, which song was your favorite, and uhh, which isn’t, but first, umm, can I use the bathroom?”
“Eh?” Alex muttered and then laughed at Jongin’s randomness. “Sure, it’s on that side,” she added pointing at a corner on the left of the kitchen.
As soon as Jongin was out of sight, Alex exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding. She felt relief but only for a matter of seconds when she heard the door in front of her shut forcefully, startling the crap out of her. She looked at Shane who was hyperventilating, looking almost like those mentally challenged people in asylums, her right hand on her chest and her other hand tightly holding two paper bags which pretty sure contained the beef she was waiting for.
“Alex,” she gasped.
“What happ—”
“Pleaseexplaintomewhyparkingchanyeolisstandingoutsideyourdoor?”
“What?”
"Ilookedathimandhewavedhishandsatmethewayhewaveshishandstothefansduringfansigningeventswhichweonlywatch" breathe "throughfancamsontheinternet?” Alex was beginning to worry her friend wouldn't breathe again, especially that Shane’s face is getting paler by the moment. “Like… like this,” Shane finished, dropping the bags and shaking her hands frantically at Alex, mimicking Park Chanyeol.
“Chanyeol is outside?” Jongin asked, who obviously didn’t reach his destination.
“He’s a member isn’t he?” Alex asked, not taking her eyes off at Shane who doesn’t stop waving her hands at her.
Shane finally had taken a look at the man who was behind Alex, and that made her hands stop shaking. Was it possible for one’s body to not fall headfirst to the floor also known as fainting, but for one’s mind to completely shut off, which is most likely the same thing? The answer was yes.
“Yah Chanyeol, stop hiding,” Jongin rolled his eyes.
Chanyeol stepped inside, awkwardly smiling, and waving his hands at everyone.
“What are you doing here?” Jongin asked, annoyed.
“No, it’s… what are you doing here? I was just follow— oh, is that beef?”
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